Wanderer
by teenagehippie15
Summary: Daryl stumbles upon a woman wandering in the woods. Can she be trusted? Will she destroy everything they've built in Alexandria? Or will she prove to be an asset to everyone, including Daryl?
1. The Discovery

It was just another day in this Godforsaken world. Just another day to meander around in the woods hoping to not stumble upon one of those… those things, or better yet someone with worse intentions than to eat me. At least I had the woods. In the woods I had shelter, hiding places, food, I had everything. The woods were mine. Of course, I had to share parts with the dead but these days they were few and far between these days.

"Hold it right there." A deep, commanding voice declared. I was of course too wrapped up in my affinity for the woods to be observant. I usually didn't need to be this deep into the forest.

"Look, I don't have any more food, I don't have any weapons; I'm not dangerous." I threw up my hands and turned around slowly in the direction of the voice.

"Then what the hell are you doing out here all by yourself?" he mumbled and walked toward me, a crossbow pointed directly at the center of my forehead and blocking his face from my view.

"Surviving." I peeked around the crossbow to at least get a glimpse of him. My efforts proved mute and only seemed to irritate him.

"Stand still." he barked and walked a few steps toward me. "Who are you with?"

At this point I was starting to just get irritated. "Look dude, I'm not with anyone. I'm not bit. I'm just in the woods because it's the only place I can be on defense for once. If you're going to take what little shit I have, then go for it. If you're going to kill me then just get it done. If not, let me get on my merry way."

He dropped the crossbow and sighed, finally giving me a view of his rather handsome face. "Look, I'm sorry. These days you just gotta be careful, you know?" His hair was kind of ratty and his face was scruffy; overall he looked like a total badass. And a total hottie. "I'm Daryl."

"Jemma." I nodded and visibly checked him out. Hell, if anything comes of this encounter it might as well be a little bit of fun. It's not like he's going to post about the girl he hooked up with in the woods on Facebook or anything.

He returned the wanting gaze and half smiled. "Look, if you're tired of being alone you can stay with us. It's safe, we're kind of the good guys."

"You don't really look like a good guy." I walked toward him until there was almost no space in between us.

"Why don't you find out for yourself?" he began to lower his crossbow fully until it was just about to touch the ground.

"Daryl!" a voice shouted from a few yards back. "Find anything?"

"Shit." He mumbled. "Yeah, I found a girl." With a wink he gestured for me to follow him. "No walkers but no deer either. I guess I'll have to go out later."

As we cleared past the sea of trees, we found the source of the voice. It was a boy, probably about fourteen. He had on what looks like a sheriff's hat and in his hand was a pistol. "Are you sure she's not with Negan? You know we can't just trust people, Daryl."

"Carl, I'm not stupid." Daryl said as he walked right past him. "Of course I did." With a glance back to make sure either I was still behind him or that this little guy wasn't about to blow my head off with the pistol he shouldn't even have, he gestured for me to keep pace with him. This kid must be psycho, but this world could turn even the most even minded people into complete forces to be reckoned with.

"So we're just going to take her back, no questions asked?"

"The questions were already asked, Carl."

Carl grunted and followed until we reached a giant gated fence, which actually wasn't too far away from where Daryl came upon me, or almost did if Carl hadn't of ruined it.

"Daryl! Anything good?" Another gruff man pushed the gate open and smiled at the guys and gave me a curious glance.

"Actually," Daryl glanced at me with a half-smile, "no food though."

"Well we'll send out a party in a few days, we've got some time." The man sighed. "I'm Rick, welcome to Alexandria."

"Alexandria? You have a name for this place?" I asked and looked at the massive fence.

"Come in and you'll see why." Rick put a cautious arm around my shoulder and led me forward.

I glanced back at Daryl who nodded and stayed close to my back. For some reason I got the feeling it was because he wanted to be there and not because he didn't distrust these people.

The inside of the fence looked to be an established community. There were people walking freely in the streets, gardens outside of houses, and what looked like happiness. "We'll find you a place," Rick said as we walked down what looked like a main road, "and then we'll give you a tour."

"She can stay with me." Daryl said. "We all have these big houses and I'm really the only one with no housemate."

Rick turned around to give him what I call the "bro look". You know the look guys give each other when they know the other is getting themselves into something- or someone- bad, but in a good way. "Since when are you the welcome wagon?"

"Always. Come on now, I'm right up here." Daryl said as we walked up the little road. "If that's okay with you."

I nodded. At this point, shelter is shelter. If Daryl was there that was just a plus.


	2. New Home

"I can't even tell you how long it's been since I had an actual shower with actual hot water." I walked into the kitchen wearing a pair of silk pajama shorts and one of Daryl's button up shirts with the sleeves cut out.

"Yeah, it's definitely one of the benefits of this place." Daryl turned around and brushed his eyes over me as I slid onto a barstool by the counter. "You hungry?"

"Actually I'm starving." I leaned forward on my elbows to expose just the tiniest bit of cleavage and pretended not to notice Daryl noticing.

"Well, I didn't know what you would like so I just kind of made what I had. I'm not going to be offended if you don't like squirrel." He slid a plate toward me.

"Squirrel?" I asked and met his worried gaze. "I love it. I lived off this stuff for like three months." We smiled at each other and I dug in. "So, if this was back in the old world would this count as you buying me dinner first?"

Daryl looked shocked for a second then made his way toward me. I slid off my stool and met him half way. Our lips locked into a passionate moment and his hands found my hips.

"Daryl?" a stern voice came from the doorway.

I felt him sigh against my lips as he glanced around me. "What's wrong, Carol?"

"We're about to leave for a run. Just seeing if you were coming." Carol said.

I met Carol's pissed of glare and put a face to the voice. She looked very… matronly.

"I'll be there in a second." Daryl replied. After she slinked out the door he took his rough hands and found my waist again. He planted another passionate kiss on my lips and smiled against them. "You wait right here. I should be back in a few hours. Go upstairs and sleep in an actual bed, just ignore the mess."

"Well if I'm going to be staying here for a while, which I hope I will be," I whispered against his lips, "maybe I'll add a little bit of a woman's touch."

"You do whatever you want." He smiled and kissed my forehead. "Just be careful, people around here are kind of… cautious."

I nodded and watched as he grabbed his crossbow off the table by the door and walk out. Once he put a yard between him and the house I slid against the wall to the floor. What was I doing? A few hours ago I was in the woods alone just barely getting by, and now I was sitting in some strangers kitchen; a stranger who I was making out with like we were a couple of teenagers in my mother's living room. None of this made sense, but then again nothing about this world made any sort of sense. All I know is that I'm safe, at least for now. It was clear I could lose myself in this man I just meant, and myself is the one thing that I've kept with me since the start of this whole thing. I need to be careful.


	3. Nightfall

Night had fallen in Alexandria; it was my first official night in Alexandria and I was honestly kind of scared. Night was a different time- a time where all of the shadows of the day come out of their hiding places and true colors come out. I sat on the roof of Daryl's house, which thankfully was at the end of a vacant neighborhood boarding on the giant fence. I could see the townspeople of Alexandria moving about their business in the distance, then just beyond that was the woods where I had spent the majority of the time since the end of the world.

"There you are." Daryl slid onto the roof next to me.

"Yeah, I like it up here." I replied and looked at the wall separating my old life from where I am now. "It's kind of quiet enough that I can be alone but close enough to everyone that I can feel like I'm a part of everyone else's life over there."

"That's cool. That's like really deep and shit." Daryl said as he lit a cigarette. "Were you one of those people in the real world?"

"What kind of people?"

"You know, the kind that has their shit together. The kind that goes to parties with mayors and shit to talk about parks and schools and shit. The kind that actually goes to libraries and shit."

I laughed and took a drag of his cigarette. "I mean, I was working on a master's degree in English. I guess you could say I was the type of person designed to not survive a ravenous freak chasing after me wanting to eat my face." That rose a laugh out of him. "So what about you?"

"What about me?" he asked and took the cigarette I offered.

"You know, what type of person were you before all of this?" I slid around to face him and crossed my legs Indian style.

"The type of person who wouldn't ever have a chance with you." He scoffed and put of the cigarette on a shingle.

"Why would you say that?"

"I was the opposite of what you were. My brother and I were… trouble." He stared off into the distance as if something just outside of the trees was beckoning to him. "Right before the end I had just gotten out of jail for some not so nice stuff."

"Tell me." I moved closer to him.

"Nah man, it's not worth it." He got up. "You hungry?" as he climbed down onto the toggle roof and disappeared into the anonymousness of the night.

Something deeply inside Daryl was damaged. Something about his past cut him so deeply that it cut directly through his rough exterior to expose the damaged flesh that, even though it had some time to heal, would probably never heal.


End file.
